Peter I of Cyprus

Peter I of Cyprus (9 October 1328-17 January 1369) was King of Cyprus from 1358 to 1369, succeeding Hugh IV of Cyprus and preceding Peter II of Cyprus. His murder by nobles in 1369 led to his wife Eleanor of Aragon, Queen of Cyprus inviting the Republic of Genoa to invade Cyprus, leading to the end of Cypriot independence and the downfall of the kingdom.

Biography
Peter was born on 9 October 1328, the son of Hugh IV of Cyprus and Alice d'Ibelin. In 1353, he married Eleanor of Aragon, Queen of Cyprus, a member of the House of Barcelona and a relative of King Pere IV of Aragon. On 24 November 1358, Peter was crowned King of Cyprus by the Bishop of Limassol, and he decided to continue the crusader tradition of sea raids against nearby lands. In January 1360, the people of the Armenian port of Korikos asked for Peter's assistance against the Ottoman Empire, and Peter sent Roberto de Lusignan to relieve the siege. The Turks were unable to break the siege, and Peter I mastered a fleet of 120 ships in July 1361 and took Antalya in Asia Minor on 24 August 1361. The remaining emirs of the region offered Peter tributes, and on 22 September 1361 he returned to Cyprus as a trophy-winner.

Downfall
Peter traveled across Europe in the 1360s, meeting with various monarchs and heading to countries such as Poland and England. On 9 October 1365, he led the Alexandrian Crusade against Egypt, conquering the city of Alexandria for three days before abandoning it. In January 1366, he raided Tripoli during his raids on the Levant, but he was eventually unable to raise armies from Europe, forcing him to end his raids. In Rome, nobles of Armenia asked him to help them in retaking much of Armenia from the Turks, but Peter returned home to domestic issues. He became a tyrant after he found out that his wife had been unfaithful during his travels in Europe, and he was murdered by three of his own knights on 17 January 1369 in the Palace of La Cava in Nicosia.

Legacy
Peter was considered to be the epitome of chivalry, and his death ironically led to his wife seeking vengeance against those who killed him. In 1373, the Republic of Genoa invaded Cyprus at her invitation, but they took power for themselves after avenging Peter I. Cyprus would be ruled by several foreign powers until it was sold to the Republic of Venice in 1488.